Ouroboros

"Am I Not Someone?"

     As the officer marched Dr. Morris out the door, the four striped dolphins watched intently. One darted over to the computer to find a new message, to which she responded in a matter of seconds.

     NG01: I thought Dr. Sullman was supposed to proofread for you?

     ZI'ZI: Froget Dr. Sullman. I fuond a sercet for you now. That's waht this statemnt is about.

     NG01: How did you find a secret?

     ZI'ZI: Dr. Sullman asekd me to chec out Coda-9994's sypware. I treid using it. I found tihs convrsation betwen him and Dr. Morris.

     NG01 called her companions over to the computer, then opened the document. Over the next several minutes, they corrected all of the spelling errors and told Zi'Zi to publish it. They would not let it stay a secret. Not when it could bring so much change to their monotonous lives. 

.........

      Roman lay on the rug in Tegan's tiny apartment, trying to distract himself by reading his comics for the millionth time. Fiver was over in the kitchen area, washing dishes in the sink. Tegan sat on the couch with her prosthetic foot detached. "What's Nighthawk doing now?" she asked Roman.

     "She was put in prison by evil aliens, but she picked the lock with her hairpin and got out of her cell. Now she's trying to get out of the prison." He looked up at Tegan. "Do you think my dad can do that? Can he get out of there?"

      Tegan opened her mouth, but no words came out. Fiver turned the sink off and answered for her. "Not unless someone else lets him out. Like I did for you."

     "But you...you got hurt bad," said Roman. "I just don't want people to get hurt anymore."

     "That's why your dad did it, Roman," said Tegan. "He didn't want you to get hurt, so he had to go. It's just like how you did it for us."

     "But...but bad things will happen to him now." Roman turned the page and gazed at the panel of Nighthawk's triumphant escape. "That's not fair."

     "There's not a lot of fairness left in the world, bud," said Tegan. "We've just got to do the best we can do."

      The room was silent for a while before Fiver spoke up again. "Jim didn't show up at Hunter's today. He said he would. Do you think something's happened?"

     "What if he got taken too?" Roman asked.

     "Unlikely," said Fiver. "But would you mind calling him, Tegan?"

     Tegan dialed Jim's number and held her phone up to her ear. "Hey, Jim. It's Tegan. We just wanted to make sure everything was all right. Call back when you can. Bye." She put the phone down and shook her head. "I hope you're not right, Roman, but things aren't looking too good. It went straight to voicemail."

     Roman dog-eared the page he was on and closed the book. "Maybe there'll be something on the news? You can get that on your phone, right?"

      She scrolled on her phone screen, squinting at what he hoped were headlines. "I'm not seeing anything about anyone but your dad...wait, hold on! What?"

      Roman hopped up on the couch and leaned in to read the headline. "ICA SCIENTIST DR. JAMES MORRIS FOUND CONSPIRING WITH EXTREMISTS, NOW IN CUSTODY."

      Fiver dropped a spoon they were about to put away. The sound of metal clattering on the tiled floor punctuated the shocked silence among them. A few seconds later, another headline appeared. "OUROBOROS UNINHABITABLE, ICA REFUSES TO ADMIT FAILURE."